The Translations of Beowulf Part 20

_Nature of the Translation._

The translation of _Beowulf_ is written in extremely archaic language.

An imitative measure of four princ.i.p.al stresses is used. Wherever possible, the Old English syntax has been preserved (see line 1242); the word-order of the original is retained. The archaic language is wrought of several different kinds of words. In the first place, there is the 'legitimate archaism,' such as 'mickle,' 'burg,' 'bairn'; there are forms which are more closely a.s.sociated with the translation of Old English, such as 'middle-garth,' 'ring-stem.' There are modern words used with the old signification, such as 'kindly' (in the sense 'of the same kind'), 'won war' (in the sense 'wage war'), 'fret' (in the sense 'eat'). Finally, there are forms which are literally translated from Old English: 'the sight seen once only' from _ans?n_, face, 251; 'spearman'

from _ga.r.s.ecg_, ocean (see extract), 'gift-scat' from _gif-sceatt_, gift of money, 378; 'the Maker's own making' from _metod-sceaft_, doom, 1180.

Romance words are excluded whenever possible. A glossary of 'some words not commonly used now' is included in the book, but none of the words cited above, save 'burg,' is found in it.

EXTRACT.

IX. UNFERTH CONTENDETH IN WORDS WITH BEOWULF.

Spake out then Unferth that bairn was of Ecglaf, And he sat at the feet of the lord of the Scyldings, 500 He unbound the battle-rune; was Beowulf's faring, Of him the proud mere-farer, mickle unliking, Whereas he begrudg'd it of any man other That he glories more mighty the middle-garth over Should hold under heaven than he himself held: Art thou that Beowulf who won strife with Breca On the wide sea contending in swimming, When ye two for pride's sake search'd out the floods And for a dolt's cry into deep water Thrust both your life-days? No man the twain of you, 510 Lief or loth were he, might lay wyte to stay you Your sorrowful journey, when on the sea row'd ye; Then when the ocean-stream ye with your arms deck'd, Meted the mere-streets, there your hands brandish'd!

O'er the Spearman ye glided; the sea with waves welter'd, The surge of the winter. Ye twain in the waves' might For a seven nights swink'd. He outdid thee in swimming, And the more was his might; but him in the morn-tide To the Heatho-Remes' land the holm bore ash.o.r.e, And thence away sought he to his dear land and lovely, 520 The lief to his people sought the land of the Brondings, The fair burg peace-warding, where he the folk owned, The burg and the gold rings. What to theeward he boasted, Beanstan's son, for thee soothly he brought it about.

_Criticism of the Translation._

The Morris-Wyatt translation is thoroughly accurate, and is, so to speak, an official commentary on the text of Wyatt's edition. It is therefore of importance to the student of the _Beowulf_.

As a literary rendering the translation is disappointing. In the first place, it must be frankly avowed that the diction is frequently so strange that it seems to modern readers well-nigh ridiculous. There are certain sentences which cannot but evoke a smile. Such are: '(he) spoke a word backward,' line 315; 'them that in Scaney dealt out the scat,'

line 1686.

Secondly, the translation is unreadable. There is an avalanche of archaisms. One example of the extreme obscurity may be given:--

'Then rathe was beroom'd, as the rich one was bidding, For the guests a-foot going the floor all withinward.'

l. 1975-76.

It would seem that the burden of 'rathe,' 'beroomed,' and 'withinward,'

were sufficient for any sentence to carry, but we are left to discover for ourselves that 'rich one' does not mean rich one, but ruler, that the 'floor' is not a floor but a hall, and that the guests are not guests, but the ruler's own men.

Morris himself was conscious of the obscurity of the work:--

'For the language of his version Morris once felt it necessary to make an apology. Except a few words, he said, the words used in it were such as he would not hesitate to use in an original poem of his own. He did not add, however, that their effect, if slipped sparingly in amid his own pellucid construction and facile narrative method, would be very different from their habitual use in a translation.... As the work advanced, he seems to have felt this himself, and his pleasure in the doing of it fell off.'

--Mackail's _Life_, ii. 284-5.

Finally, the version does not _translate_. Words like 'Spearman' for _Ocean_, and combinations like 'the sight seen once only' for _the face_, can be understood only by the intimate student of Old English poetry, and there is no reason why such a person should not peruse _Beowulf_ in the original tongue rather than in a translation occasionally as obscure as the poem itself.

If one can peer through the darkness of Morris's diction, he will discover a fairly pleasing use of the so-called imitative measure. The verse is not nearly so rough as the original; many of the characteristic subst.i.tutions are avoided. There is evident a tendency toward the 'rising verse' and the anapestic foot. The feminine ending is frequently used. The verse is, therefore, not strictly imitative in that it retains the Old English system of versification, but rather in that it attempts to suggest the Old English movement by the use of four princ.i.p.al stresses and a varying number of unstressed syllables. Morris's verse is the best of all the 'imitative' measures.

[Footnote 1: See Mackail's _Life_, i. 198.]

SIMONS'S TRANSLATION

Beowulf, Angelsaksisch Volksepos, vertaald in Stafrijm, en met Inleiding en Aanteekeningen voorzien door Dr. L. Simons, Briefwisselend Lid der Koninklijke Vlaamsche Academie voor Taal- en Letterkunde, Leeraar aan 't koninklijk Athenaeum te Brussel. Gent, A. Siffer, 1896. Large 8vo, pp. 355.

Published for the Koninklijke Vlaamsche Academie voor Taal- en Letterkunde.

First Dutch Translation. Iambic Pentameter.

_Aim and Contents of the Volume._

The author's purpose, as stated in 'Een Woord Vooraf,' is to make the _Beowulf_ better known to the Dutch public. With this in view he adds to his translation copious notes and an exhaustive comment. The t.i.tles of his various chapters are: De Beschaving in den Beowulf, Christendom, Heldensage en Volksepos, Geschiednis, Mythos, Geatas, Nationaliteit van den Beowulf, Tijd van Voltooiing, Het Handschrift, De Versbouw, Epische Stijl, Innerlijke Geschiednis. Explanatory and critical comment is given in the footnotes, and textual criticism in the Notes at the end of the volume.

_Text Used._

'I have followed the text of Socin[1]; where I have preferred to give another reading I have justified my proceeding in the Notes at the end of the work.' --Een Woord Vooraf.

_Nature of the Translation._

It is a literal translation in iambic pentameter.

'Of the translation nothing in particular needs to be said. I have followed my original as closely as possible.' --Een Woord Vooraf.

He adds that this was no easy task, as Dutch does not afford the same variety of simile as the Old English.

A page is then given to the discussion of the nature of his verse.

He first gives his reasons for preferring iambic pentameter to the 'Reinartsvers,' which some might think best to use.

'Moreover, the iambic pentameter lends itself well to division into hemistichs, the princ.i.p.al characteristic of the ancient epic versification.' --Een Woord Vooraf.

He has often preferred the simple alliteration (aa, bb) to the Old English system[2].

EXTRACT.

IX.

En Hunferd zeide toen, de zoon van Ecglaf, Die aan die voeten zat des Schyldingvorsten, Het kampgeheim ontkeetnend: (Beowulfs aankomst, Des koenen golfvaart gaf hem grooten aanstoot, Omdat hij geenszins aan een ander gunde Der mannen, meerder roem op aard te rapen, Beneen de wolken, dan hem was geworden.) 'Zijt gij die Beowulf, die met Brecca aanbond Den wedstrijd op de wijde zee, in 't zwemmen Met dezen streven dorst, toen boud gij beiden Navorschtet in den vloed en gij uit grootspraak Uw leven waagdet in het diepe water?

Geen stervling was in staat, noch vriend noch vijand, De roekelooze reis u af te raden.

Toen braakt gij beiden roeiend door de baren En dektet onder uwen arm de deining, Gij maat de zeebahn, zwaaiend met de handen, Doorgleedt de waterwieling, schoon met golven De kil opklotste bij des winters branding.

Op deze wijze wurmdet gij te gader Wel zeven nachten in 't bezit der zeeen.

Doch gene ging in vaart u ver te boven; Hij had toch meerder macht. De strooming stuwde Hem met den morgen heen ten Headoraemen, Van waar hij wedervond, de volksgevierde, Het lieve stambezit, het land der Brondings, De schoone schatburg, waar hij wapenlieden En goed en goud bezat. De zoon van Beanstan Hield tegen u geheel zijn woord in waarheid.'

_Criticism of the Translation._

The translation seems to aim chiefly at accuracy, which accounts for the rather large number of notes containing readings suggested by various commentators. The translator uses freely compounds and metaphors similar to those in the original text. This seems occasionally to militate against the clearness of the work. Thus, it is doubtful whether 'kampgeheim ontkeetnend' of the extract conveys to the modern Dutch reader any notion similar to that of the Old English _beadu-runen onband_.

The present writer is unable to offer any literary criticism of the translation.